Obama expels 35 Russian diplomats over ‘hacking’ of US election

President Barack Obama has ordered the expulsion of 35 Russians diplomats and the closure of two Russian compounds in the US.

US intelligence services believe Russia ordered cyber-attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Hillary Clinton’s campaign and other political organisations, in an attempt to influence the election in favour of Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.

“I have issued an executive order that provides additional authority for responding to certain cyber activity that seeks to interfere with or undermine our election processes and institutions, or those of our allies or partners,” Obama said in the statement.

“These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm US interests in violation of established international norms of behavior.

“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions. Using this new authority, I have sanctioned nine entities and individuals: the GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations.

“In addition, the secretary of the treasury is designating two Russian individuals for using cyber-enabled means to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.”

Obama added that more actions would be taken, “some of which will not be publicised”.

Meanwhile, Paul Ryan, speaker of America’s house of representatives, has thrown his weight behind Obama’s decision to sanction Russia.

In a statement on Thursday, Ryan described Obama’s actions as “long overdue”.

“Russia does not share American’s interests,” he said in a statement.

“In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world.

“While today’s action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia and it serves as a prime example of this administration’s ineffective foreign policy that has left America weaker in the eyes of the world.”

The Russian government has responded to the sanctions, describing it as “one last blow” to US relations with Russia.

“The outgoing US administration has not given up on its hope of dealing one last blow to relations with Russia, which it has already destroyed,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs, said in a statement.